DIY Tiered Planter Box from Pallet Wood

One of the best perks of being married to the Handyman is that I get the most amazing homemade presents! I get nightstands for my birthday, bookcases for Christmas, and birdhouses just because he loves me. All made from rescued wood! This year for Valentine’s Day he asked me what I wanted, and I requested a set of planter boxes for my herb garden.

The garden plan that we’ve chosen to use as our inspiration has an herb garden centerpiece, and I got really excited about designing one for our garden. The location of our garden is full sun, so I thought a tiered set of boxes would be the best way for me to be sure that I could grow both sun-sensitive herbs (like basil, which prefers afternoon shade) and sun-lovers (like chives) in the same area without giving up a lot of square footage. It will also help keep aggressive plants (like mint) from spreading all over the damn place. I like mojitos as much as the next person, but there are only so many I can drink.

So on an unusually warm February day, the Handyman, armed only with my request for a “tiered” system, built me the most amazing herb garden planter boxes.

He started by ripping apart some of the coolest, oldest, most deliciously weathered hardwood pallets that I’ve ever seen. These things had some serious character. He set aside the stringer boards to be used as legs, and started cutting up the slats.

As anyone who has ever worked with rescued wood can tell you, you don’t go into the project with dimensions in mind. The wood tells you how big your end result will be. Pallets aren’t any different. In this case, the six widest slats ended up being the sides of six rectangular planter boxes. The exact dimensions can be whatever you like, but the length of your pallet slat equals the perimeter (sum of all four sides) of your rectangle. A 48″ pallet slat can make a 12″ x 12″ square, a 10″ x 14″ rectangle, an 8″ x 16″ rectangle, or myriad other configurations, as long as the perimeter is 48″. Just know that the farther you get from a square, the smaller your surface area will be. 12×12 is 144 square inches, but 8×16 is only 128 and a 2×22 is only 44 square inches. If planting area is important to you, stay close to square. We decided to do slight rectangles to help with stability by spreading out the center of gravity a bit.

The little man got to help assemble the boxes.

Once the box sides were assembled, the smaller slats were cut to fit the bottom of the boxes, with slight gaps left to help with drainage.

The planter boxes are arranged in two columns of three boxes. Each set of three boxes is secured using a pallet board on the side, and the two columns are attached together using a third pallet board down the middle. You want enough height between boxes to allow for plant growth, sunlight exposure, and to let rainfall naturally water your herbs.

Also, remember that if you want your columns staggered you need to have the side supports longer on one side. A good way to avoid mistakes is to attach the pre-made boxes to the center support first, and then add the side supports.

box numbered — Side support for Boxes 1, 3, and 5 runs from the bottom of Box 1 to the top of Box 5, whereas side support for Boxes 2, 4, and 6 begins one box-height below Box 2, to elevate it above Box 1. Center support runs from the bottom of Box 1 up to the top of Box 5.

Finally the stringer boards were attached to the base to give stability. Since our boxes are going to go in the center of the garden path, the Handyman kept the stringer boards long and narrow so we won’t have to step over them as much.

The final product is perfect for our rustic, rescued wood homestead. It’s been sitting outside the Handyman’s workshop since February so those cut ends are getting nice and weathered now. As soon as the garden is completely tilled and ready this sucker is going smack dab in the middle. I can’t wait for all the tasty goodness to start growing. I’ve already got my basil, oregano, and thyme hardening off and getting ready to go outside, and today I bought some mint and chive plants, since those seeds didn’t germinate. We still have frost potential, so nothing is outside yet, but next week is Mother’s Day and my local experts tell me it’s safe then. I can hardly wait!